Among founders, there is a problem they call "no time," but in reality it sounds like "I don't know what to do." At the same time, the founder tries to cure it by building new features, engaging in content creation and perfectionism — this is if they don't have sales yet; if they do, they focus on routine work, filling this time to the max so that there's simply no time to sleep. Naturally, such a founder earns like a laborer, and if there are no sales, they earn a confident burnout. It all stems from the fact that the founder actually doesn't know what to do in their role in the company and tries to take on another role, and since they are the most motivated, they do it to the max. Moreover, when I ask such founders what the problem is, they all answer as one: "We just need more sales, clients, turnover, or investments to reach a new level, and then everything will be super!"

All this will lead to the startup not developing. Because along the way, few people are working on it. I came up with a remedy; it won't cure completely, but it will direct the gaze in the right direction. If you are building features but nothing is growing, the number of clients is not increasing, if you are dealing with employee tasks, then you need to focus on the "Exclusively useful action." This is an action that will be useful to any business at any stage.

"Communicating with potential clients" is an exclusively useful action for any business.

If you are not selling yet, go sell, preferably through problem interviews.
If you are already selling, you can sell, or you can study the client's journey to receiving value in your business.

In both cases, the founder inevitably gains insights on how to improve their product and business. They find exactly what the client is willing to pay for. And how much time should be spent on this? This should be done all the time until you have nothing else to do or until you hire someone to do it for you. By the way, did you know that in large companies, they also actively do this? In the next post, I'll tell you how the top managers of Gazprom Neft do it.